Nominations were submitted by representatives of health care institutions, companies, facilities and organizations from all across Washington. The winners, chosen by a panel of expert judges, are individuals and institutions leading the charge to improve Washington's world-class health care sector. The Outstanding Medical Director award recognizes a medical director or chief medical officer who has distinguished himself or herself as a leader in a hospital, medical group or insurance company.

Dr. Stewart’s expertise is in hematology oncology. His research interests focus on stem cell biology, cellular immunotherapy approaches to a variety of different diseases and clinical studies in other general oncology areas including head and neck cancer, germ cell cancers, and hematologic malignancies. In addition to serving as the medical director, senior vice president and attending physician at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, Dr. Stewart is an attending physician at the University of Washington Medical Center, Harborview Medical Center, VA Puget Sound Medical Center and Northwest Hospital Medical Center.

Dr. Stewart is on the national board of directors for the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), a not-for-profit alliance of 27 of the world’s leading cancer centers devoted to patient care, research, and education, dedicated to improving the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of cancer care so that patients can live better lives. Dr. Stewart serves on the NCCN’s Executive Committee, acts as the Best Practices Committee Co-Chair and is also on the Guidelines Steering Committee.

It was through his work on NCCN’s Best Practices Committee, that Dr. Stewart helped champion a national patient safety campaign around the correct use and administration of the immunotherapy drug, vincristine. The initiative, Just Bag It: The NCCN Campaign for Safe Vincristine Handlingencourages healthcare providers to always dilute and administer the medication vincristine in a mini IV-drip bag, helping providers to avoid compromising the health of patients.

Dr. Stewart joined Seattle Cancer Care Alliance in 2000 as the medical director and senior vice president where he oversees clinical care, conducts quality monitoring of medical practice, and is responsible for SCCA outpatient clinics. He is a member of the Clinical Research Division at Fred Hutch; an acting division head of Medical Oncology at the University of Washington, and a professor in the Medical Oncology Division of the University of Washington School of Medicine. He received his M.D. from Indiana University School of Medicine.

About Seattle Cancer Care AllianceSeattle Cancer Care Alliance brings together the leading research teams and cancer specialists from Fred Hutch, Seattle Children’s and UW Medicine - one extraordinary group whose sole purpose is the pursuit of better, longer, richer lives of our patients. Based in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood, SCCA has six clinical care sites, including a medical oncology clinic at EvergreenHealth in Kirkland, Washington; medical and radiation oncology clinics at UW Medicine/Northwest Hospital & Medical Center in Seattle, Washington, as well as network affiliations with hospitals in five states. For more information about SCCA, visit seattlecca.org.